The Storm
by Silent Lord
Summary: Earth has been abandoned. But one stays behind....


The Storm by Silent Lord 

Prologue-Tobias 

I know that you know the whole story of the yeerks, and the invasion, and our powers, so I am not going to waste time now by telling you about it. There is little enough time as it is. 

There are a few things that you do need to know, though. We are all 16, and are still fighting the everlasting war against the yeerks. But all that is changing. 

I know that this sounds like gibberish to you. Cassie could probably explain it better. But I'm doing my best. Right now it is up to me to tell you our final story. 

We are becoming traitors. We are abandoning our planet to the yeerks. Too much of the world's population are taken over. There is nothing we can do. 

Please try to understand. Three fifths of the worlds people are controllers. And we have just learned that more yeerks, and Visser 5, are on the way. A lot more. As in 346 hundred thousand more. 

We have our escape route. All you need to know right now is that the Ellimist is involved. Not all of us have agreed to go. We know that a fight is hopeless. Cassie will stay to die with her planet. In a way, I understand. There is nothing left for us here. Nothing more to live for. 

I can't finish now. The others will help me to end this, later. For now, we can only wait for the storm that is coming. Only wait. 

And hope. 

Chapter 1-Jake 

As I flew in, I watched the others dully. I had never realized how much they had changed. Marco, for example. Gone was the laughter in his eyes. They were flat, black disks, dead of any emotion. 

And Rachel. The blond hair of which she had been so proud was now hanging limp around her neck, and where before you saw a demon in Rachel, now you saw despair. She had given up. 

Ax, too. His usually shiny blue and tan fur was dull, and his stalk eyes roamed aimlessly, where they had normally been strong and focused. 

Cassie scared me the most. She had been the gentle one, disliking fighting. Now rage and pain filled her eyes, rage for the yeerks, and pain for Mother Earth, who we were letting to be swallowed and destroyed by evil aliens. 

Only Tobias looked the same. But then, hawk eyes can't really show emotion. 

I wheeled, and landed in the ruins of Cassie's barn. The barn had been bombed a year and a half earlier, killing Cassie's parents and infant brother. She had been with me, so she was safe. Of course, that didn't stop her from blaming herself. The yeerks were being more open now, cocky because of their many controllers. It was all over for us. All of us. As I landed, I was greeted by a few "Hi, Jake" 's. But that was about it. We were holding this meeting as one of our last on Earth, before we left it. I slowly demorphed, and then the talking began. 

" I can't believe we are leaving. It's so hard," Rachel said quietly. 

"Not all of us are leaving, Rachel," Cassie countered in an equally low tone, but her voice trembled as if controlling her temper. 

At that, Marco kind of exploded. " Cassie, come on! You can't exactly take them on alone! We are not talking hundreds here, or even thousands. We're talking millions!" 

Right then, I felt a burst of relief. Marco had said what I had wanted to say but couldn't. 

Cassie stood up, and met Marco's gaze with not a glare, but kind of a slightly cold, but mostly sorrowful look. 

"Did I say anything about fighting, Marco?" She asked. "Did I mention the millions of yeerks you just shouted about in my face? I'm not staying to fight. I don't know what I'm staying for. But I'm not leaving the planet that has so willingly supported life for billions of years. She is not going to die alone." 

Marco didn't say anything. He just sat down. Cassie looked slightly out of breath, not from all the emotion she had put into her words, but from the lack of emotion. Her words had been flat, and I could tell that keeping them that way had been a challenge. Ax spoke up in a low voice, < Our escape route will be here soon. Cassie knows what she wants. We cannot hold her back.> 

Tobias hadn't spoken in a while. I wondered if something was wrong. But there was really no point in asking. Tobias had been really closed lately. He only opened up to Rachel. If anything happened to her.... 

Shaking my mind out of the thought, I said, trying to muster what was left of my courage, "Does anyone want to go flying? Just kind of a 'last morph' on earth thing?" 

Marco and Ax declined. I guess they just weren't up to it. Ax was really down because he had failed to avenge Elfangor. I guess Marco was still kind of ticked over Cassie's outburst. Who knew with Marco? 

Chapter 2 -Jake 

I watched as if from far away as the familiar patterns of the seagull feathers appeared on my skin. It all seemed kind of dull. Only Cassie held a spark for me, now. 

It's weird, really. A long time ago, I used to wish the war was over, that I didn't have to fight any more. That I didn't have to be the leader. And now that it is, I wished it wasn't. 

As I rose into the sky, morph complete, I saw two seagulls veer off to the west. Tobias and Rachel. Cassie and I stayed northern. 

After a long silence, she spoke. 

_ She said. _

_ I answered softly. _

Things between Cassie and I had just started heating up when we got the news about the faster infestation program from Erek. Since then, we had no time with each other. We barely had time to talk in private. 

I think Rachel and Tobias had the same problem, which was probably why they headed away from us so quickly. They probably had even more of a situation then us, because, well, can't you guess? It's hard to have a relationship when one of them is a hawk. 

Suddenly, Cassie swooped down onto this little island that we had found long ago and was our special place, and instantly began to demorph. Puzzled, I did the same, changing to human as soon as my body hit the sand. Cassie was a few feet away, sobbing as if her heart was broken. 

Chapter 3-Jake 

Sobbing. 

Cassie, who never cried anymore. Cassie, who was now the strongest and most stable of us all. Cassie was crying. 

I shook myself out of my confusion, and ran over. I held her in my arms, and she leaned against my chest, crying into my shirt. 

"Oh, god, Jake I don't know what to do," she whispered. "Seeing Rachel like that. A year ago, it would have been her staying behind, her holding her temper at me, instead of the other way around. And you." She said, turning to face me. 

"Me?" I asked. 

"You're being so wonderful about this,"She said softly, tears flowing again. "I don't know how I can live without you." 

"I can't stay, Cassie." I said haltingly. " I can't just give up my life." 

"I know." She whispered. "I know" 

I held her like that for awhile, with her leaning against my chest, with my arms around her, holding her close. Slowly, slowly, her tears lessened, and she sat up, wiping her eyes. I stood up, and offered her my hand, to pull her to her feet. She accepted, and I drew her close. 

"Can you morph?" I asked. "We probably need to head back." 

"Yeah, we do. Erek said to be back before too long. You guys don't want to miss your flight." She replied with a hint of teasing in her voice. 

I pushed a strand of hair off her forehead. Suddenly, our faces were very close. I could feel her cool breath on my cheek. My arms slipped around her waist, and her hands slid up to my neck. Our eyes drifted shut , my lips a fraction away from hers, when we heard a voice- 

Marco said. 

Cassie and I drew away from each other, and started morphing without a word. As I rose into the sky on bird wings, I thought to myself, It was probably better that I didn't kiss her. If I had, I never would have been able to leave. 

Chapter 4-Jake 

We had gathered our measly belongings. Said our private goodbyes. Then, the Ellimist opened the portal. Is was amazing, just a big gap in the evening sky. Invisible to anyone other than us. Cassie stood a little away. She carried no bags, had no objects with her. One by one, with the Ellimist looking on, the other animorphs said good-bye to Cassie. And then, one bye one, they stepped into the portal. At last, it was my turn. 

For a moment, we just stared at each other. Then, as if by some signal, we closed the gap and fell into each other's arms. Her mouth was on mine, her arms were around my neck, my hands gathered her into me. We kissed savagely, gasping , with tears streaming down our faces. When at last we drew apart, her eyes gave permission, and, holding her gaze the whole way,walking with slow, steady, steps, I stepped into the portal. 

The End 


End file.
